


A Way Through the Woods

by WhyZombiesWhy



Category: A Way Out (Video Game)
Genre: Lots of rain, M/M, Rain, don't read if you're hydrophobic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-29 08:28:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15069197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhyZombiesWhy/pseuds/WhyZombiesWhy
Summary: "Prison escape two nights ago" -News on the radioFrom the time they escaped the prison to when they made it to the farm house, Vincent Moretti and Leo Caruso had spent an entire day trying to find a way out of those woods. This is how I imagined that time was spent.





	A Way Through the Woods

It was as if the rain fell harder the further they ran. The only thing pushing him to keep moving was the thought that any one of the raindrops hitting him could’ve been a bullet. Completely soaked through and now feeling the pain in his arm from the dog bite, Leo knew he had to risk stopping to take a break. His legs felt like they were on fire as he slowed to a jog and took cover under the biggest tree nearby. He laid with his back against the tree listening to the rainfall and his own labored breaths. Leo watched the rainfall inches in front of his face, thankful the branches above were dense enough to impede it. 

Soon the sound of Vincent jogging could be heard over the rain. “Over here!” Leo called out; he tried to shout above the sound of the rain but could barely hear his own words after they left his mouth. Leo could see that Vincent had stopped now, he couldn’t see his face but imagined the alarm he must be feeling at losing him. Vincent was looking in circles, for a brief moment it reminded Leo of a dog chasing his tail. Suddenly, Leo’s own panic grew in his chest at the realization that he might be left alone to freeze under this tree if he couldn’t get Vincent’s attention. He had already started to move again, in a direction away from the tree under which Leo sat.

“VINCENT” 

This time Leo’s voice could be heard over the downpour. Vincent’s head snapped around and thankfully he must’ve spotted him as he started to jog to the tree. On his approach Leo’s fear subsided and the pain in his arm and lungs took its place. Vincent stopped and stood over him for a moment, before sitting against the tree for shelter as well. Leo’s gaze never left the rain in front of him.“We need to stop and wait out the storm”, Vincent’s voice was weary and Leo almost didn’t catch it over the wheezing coming from both of them.

It felt like an eternity before Leo’s breath was back to normal and the stitch in lungs was gone. Looking over, he took in Vincent for the first time since he sat down. His skin shiny from all the water, and his hair clumped down against his forehead. Eyes were closed and he was still heavily breathing; knees pushed up against himself to stay out of the rain. 

It made Leo realize he had been sitting there with his legs poking out from under the tree the whole time. Scrunching up his soaked legs to his chest like Vincent, Leo felt a little burst of warmth when his leg touched the other man. It felt so good Leo immediately moved to be closer to Vincent without a second thought. They were now leg to leg and shoulder to shoulder, a small comfort when Leo could only feel the pain and the numbing coldness surrounding him. It felt like the cold had made it all the way into his heart, he wanted the heat Vincent was providing to warm him up there too. He thought of trying to start a fire, but with a downpour like this there’d be no dry wood anywhere. From a fire Leo’s thoughts drifted to Linda and Alex, memories of drier times made him feel slightly warmed; if only in his head.

He was absentmindedly aware the Vincent was moving around beside him, but couldn’t bring himself to open his mouth or even glance over to him. Eyes fixated on the rain in front of him, the green trees almost turned grey in the little light they had. Suddenly the pain in his arm shot up 10 fold and Leo gasped at the rise in pain. His attention rounded onto Vincent with an almost primal instinct to fight him for hurting his wounded arm, only to see he had been wrapping his jacket around the injury. “Sorry, but I wasn’t going to let you bleed out on me.” Vincent sounded as tired as he was and Leo felt the fight drain out of him. He didn’t realize the bite had been that bad, but really he had been trying not to think about it.

Now resting against the tree again, this time with his head turned to face Vincent, Leo found his voice. “What the hell are we gonna do?” It was a question to Vincent and to himself. He had been so focused on escaping prison that the thought of dying once he was finally free felt like a joke. He didn’t want to die under this tree, he had always thought he’d die either on a job or from falling off something. Freezing to death in the rain felt like the most escapable way to go out, and yet here he was suspecting Mother Nature wanted him dead more than Harvey did. 

Vincent had said something in reply to his question, but the sound of nearby thunder cut through whatever he had spoken. Assuming it was typical banter that he had no energy for, Leo closed his eyes and tried to think of Linda and Alex again. He didn’t get far however, before Vincent was trying to squeeze between him and the tree. Confused, Leo sat his ground and wouldn't let himself be moved, “What are you doing?” Leo surprised himself at how much stronger his voice sounded now, almost back to normal. Vincent glared at him from behind his shoulder, “Like I said, unless you’re content on freezing we need to huddle together for warmth” and without waiting for a reply he again made to get behind Leo. Still though, Leo did not want to budge. Vincent backed up and sighed, “Fine, nevermind then”. He watched as Vincent dragged himself about a foot around the tree from him and laid down on the wet grass and roots.

Leo knew that Vincent was right, they needed to bunch together to stay warm if they were going to survive this night. Even just watching Vincent lay there shivering on the ground made Leo want to lay down next to him to try and give the other man some warmth, but it wasn’t so simple. Not that Leo wasn’t willing, just that he had become accustomed to never letting anyone behind him. Being in prison the last 6 months while getting jumped numerous times a week made him never trust anyone at his flank.

Looking over at the shuddering escapee, he knew this was Vincent he was thinking about; they had just broken out of prison together. If he truly meant Leo harm he would’ve done so on one of the many occasions they were alone. Still, laying next to Vincent felt like suicide. Then again, not laying next to Vincent was suicide. Begrudgingly, Leo walked on his knees over to where Vincent lay and put his hand on his shoulder. Vincent opened his eyes and wordlessly pressed closer to the tree to try and make more room for him. Struggling not to think about how he was about to be strangled in his sleep, Leo laid down with his back into Vincent’s chest, using his own arm as a pillow. There was a root poking his side and everywhere but his back felt chilled to to bone, but somehow Leo found it in himself to trust Vincent enough to fall asleep. After all, trusting him has gotten them this far...

**Author's Note:**

> It's an absolute shame how small this fandom is, so given that I have been waiting for others on here to update their fics I thought I might as well join them. I've had the idea for this story since I first played the game nearly 3 weeks ago so I'm glad to finally get it all out of my head and into writing. If any of you want to chat about A Way Out or any game really my tumblr is zeke501.


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